Ezra Part 2

Okay, all right, let's pray. We'll get started. As we open your word, Lord Jesus, we come to you empty -handed, and we ask that your

Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what you have revealed there, so that we may properly believe, confess, and do according to your holy word.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen. So last week we began our study, our little mini study on the book of Ezra, and we spent a lot of time looking at names.

You'll note that the beginning part of Ezra is a very historical document with all the yearbook information that you would normally expect, right?

Names, the only thing missing are the photographs, but alas, those have perished over time.

But we're gonna continue now as they're getting ready to rebuild the temple itself in Ezra chapter three.

And so we start at verse eight. In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month,

Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jehoshadak made a beginning.

Together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity, they appointed the

Levites from 20 years old and upward to supervise the work of the house of Yahweh.

And Jeshua and his sons and his brothers, Cadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Hanadad and the

Levites and their sons and brothers. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the

Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise Yahweh according to the directions of David, king of Israel.

And they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

That makes you wonder which of the Psalms they're looking at there, right? And so we continue.

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid.

But many of the priests and Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, they wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid.

Though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sounds of the joyful from the shout, from the sounds of the people weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away.

So for those who were too young to remember, they had not yet been born, they saw the new temple and they were shouting and praising

God, we have a temple again. Those who had lived long enough that their eyes were able to remember, and they had seen and experienced

Solomon's temple in its glory prior to the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, they realized that what was being constructed in its place was a mere shadow of what was there.

And so they wept because it was really not what they had remembered, but alas, it was a temple nonetheless.

Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to Yahweh, the

God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers' houses, and they said to them, let us build with you for we worship your

God as you do and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, who brought us here.

Do they really though? Do they really worship the same God? Do they really? And so Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses in Israel said to them, you have nothing to do with us in building a house to our

God, but we alone will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.

So then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, the king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, the king of Persia.

So they did not like the fact that the Jews said to them, no, we don't have anything to do with this, we're doing this on our own, we have nothing to do with you, you claim that you worship the same

God, you don't, we don't have anything to do with you. So what did they do? They punished them with red tape, okay?

It's true. Talking about bribing the counselors and frustrating their purpose.

So their building permits, they were no longer approved, they were under the scrutiny of all this kind of local government and bureaucrats and everything just was a mess.

In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

So this was the letter to King Artaxerxes. In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabe 'el and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia.

The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. Rahum, the commander, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes, the king, as follows.

Rahum, the commander, Shimshai, the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the

Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Os Naper deported and settled in the cities of Samaria in the rest of the province beyond the river.

This is a copy of the letter that they sent. To Artaxerxes, the king, your servants, the men of the province beyond the river, send greeting.

And now be it known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have gone to Jerusalem.

They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

Now be it known to the king that if the city is rebuilt, the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.

Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king in order that the search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, and you will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old.

That is why this city was laid waste. We make known to the king that if the city is rebuilt, its walls finished, you will have no possession in the province beyond the river.

They know the future. Isn't that interesting? Note the accusation isn't about something that they have done or something that they are doing.

It's about something they will do, okay? We know the future. We have prejudged them, they are guilty, and you are gonna lose all of your assets here, the end, kill them please, right?

That's kind of the underbelly of all of this. So the king sent an answer to Rahun, the commander, and Shimshai, the scribe, and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province beyond the river, greeting, and now the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me, and I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that the city, from of old, has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.

The mighty kings have been over Jerusalem who ruled over the whole province beyond the river to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.

Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that the city be not rebuilt until a decree is made by me, and take care not to be slack in this matter.

Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king? Well, so all right.

So now everything comes to a grinding halt. I told you, they're punishing them with red tape.

So then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letters were read before Rahun and Shimshai, the scribe, and their associates, they went in haste to the

Jews at Jerusalem, and by force and power, made them cease. And then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, the king of Persia, chapter five.

Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edo, prophesied to the

Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

And isn't it interesting? We can read both of their books, right? We can read Zechariah, and we can read Haggai, right?

So then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua, the son of Jehozadak, arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Basically, the prophets saying, go ahead and build. Don't worry, God will take care of the rest, right?

So at that time, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar -Bazinai, and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus.

Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? They also asked them this.

What are the names of the men who are building this building? But the eye of their God was on the elders of the

Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius, and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

This is a copy of the letter that Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, and Shethar -Bazinai and his associates, the governors, who were in the province beyond the river, sent to Darius the king.

You're gonna note that there is a lot of ink in this one. The drama is in the emails, right?

That's how this is working. So they sent him a report in which was written as follows.

To Darius the king, all peace, be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah to the house of the great

God that is being built with huge stones and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.

Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus, who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?

We also asked them their names for your information that we might write down the names of their leaders, and this was their reply to us.

We are the servants of God, the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house that was built many years ago which a great king of Israel built and finished, but because our fathers had angered the

God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people of Babylonia.

However, or to Babylonia, however, in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt.

And the gold and the silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon these

Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was

Shesh -Bazar, whom he had made governor. And he said to him, take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.

Then this Shesh -Bazar came and laid the foundation of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building and it is not yet finished.

Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem and let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.

All right, so let's see if Cyrus actually wrote something to that effect. We know he did because we heard about that earlier, right?

So then Darius the king made a decree. A search was made in Babylonia in the house of the archives where the documents were stored.

Luckily they weren't in Biden's garage or something, but anyway, and in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which was written a record.

In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem.

Let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered and let its foundation be retained.

Its height shall be 60 cubits, its breadth 60 cubits with three layers of great stones, one layer of timber, and let the cost be paid from the royal treasury and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which

Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place.

You shall put them in the house of God. Now therefore, Tatanai, governor of the province beyond the river,

Shethar -Bazani, and your associates, the governors who are in the province beyond the river, keep away, let the work on this house of God alone.

Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for rebuilding of this house of God.

The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from beyond the river, and whatever is needed, bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the

God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require, let that be given to them day by day without fail, that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the

God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Also, I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall become a dunghill.

That's a good punishment, I like that one, right? Impaled on a beam and your house made into a dunghill.

All right, may the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem.

I, Darius, make a decree, let it be done with all diligence. So you'll note the way this kind of lays out then is

Zechariah and Haggai made it very clear. God wants you to rebuild this temple, get to it, even before they had official permission under the current regime to do so because they had been stopped by the previous regime because of the paperwork and the red tape that was imposed upon them.

God knew exactly how this would play out and it played out in their favor and so it wasn't a false start, it was a start that was necessary and they had a good jump on it.

And not only did those who tried to stop the building of the temple fail, they failed miserably, now the situation is even worse because now the king is investing his own treasury money for the purpose of rebuilding the temple.

And so you can see God's hand is at work in this affair. So then according to the word sent by Darius the king,

Tantani, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar -Bazani and the other associates did with all diligence what

Darius the king had ordered and the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.

They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar and the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

And all the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the returned exiles celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs and as a sin offering for all of Israel, 12 male goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel and they set the priests in their divisions and the

Levites in their divisions for the service of God at Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses.

On the 14th day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the

Passover. Now, a little bit of a note here. Okay, I mentioned this in passing last week.

I will focus on it a little bit more here. 14th day of the what month? First month.

What's the first month according to God? Nisan. That's in the spring, right?

It is when Easter is and so you'll note that we see in the scriptures over and over again the first month according to the

Jewish calendar or I say the Israeli calendar which was established by God in the

Torah, the first month is in April or the end of March depending on how things kind of move with the lunar months but all that being said, when you hear in the coming months, it's gonna happen like in the next month and a half, two months of the

Jewish new year coming up, you're gonna note here the current Jews do not properly keep the right calendar.

So when they have Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, the new year coming up in the fall, that's not when

God established the first month and so you're gonna note the religion of the

Pharisees which is the religion of modern Judaism today, of modern Orthodox Judaism.

That religion has abandoned the scriptures and has added to them so greatly that they are even moving times and seasons and days and months and things like this.

They don't have authority to do that but we read in the prophet, we read in Ezra here that all the way back when the

Jews came back from exile, they celebrated the Passover, recognized it was the first month and it was celebrated when it should be in the month of Nisan, yeah.

Yes, the question was do I, am I saying that the YouTube prophets are even more wrong than thought before? The answer is yes, the

YouTube prophets are wingnut wackerdoodles and anybody giving a prophecy for the Jewish new year and claiming that that's really the holy new year and all this kind of stuff, they are feeding you bovine scatology, basically a prophetic dunghill and as a result of that, everything that they're saying, it's not only false, it's like doubly false and their words are completely worthless and anybody who reads their

Bible should be able to sit there and go, hey, you know, September isn't really the first month. You can figure this out if you pay attention to the details of scripture, right?

So on the 14th day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. The priests and the

Levites had purified themselves together and all of them were clean which was a requirement under the

Mosaic covenant so they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests and for themselves.

It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and also by everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship

Yahweh, the God of Israel and they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy for Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the

God of Israel. All right, we're just breezing through Ezra here.

It's a good historical narrative. Now, real quick, I'm gonna back up, make sure I haven't missed any questions.

Good, there's no major questions in the chat hanging over here so far. Straightforward stuff. So now we're gonna see where Ezra is,

I've referred to this before as we were reading through Nehemiah and this idea that there's a revival going on of the reading and the paying attention to the details and the studying and the memorizing of God's word and we've noted in the book of Nehemiah that Ezra, on several occasions in that book, read for long stretches of time during the days in Jerusalem and there were great crowds that gathered to hear him teaching and reading through the scriptures with other people in the crowd there to explain the meaning of the text.

You think my sermons are long. I have yet to start at nine a .m. and finish at four.

But we're talking, that's kind of the length of day, the length of time that Ezra would teach. So after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Sariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shalom, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahuthab, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Merioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Buki, the son of Abushua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the chief priest.

This Ezra went up from Babylonia. Now, this is important, this establishes his Levitic credentials, but you'll note a couple of notable names here.

Aaron, he's a descendant of Aaron. You'll note that he is also a son of a fellow who's a little bit of a scandalous fellow,

Phinehas, okay? You've heard of Hophni and Phinehas, but he's also the son of Zadok, okay?

Zadok was the high priest at the time when Solomon built the temple, the great temple of Solomon.

Zadok was the high priest, and the guys who were in charge of keeping up the temple of Solomon were called the

Zadokim, and you know them in your New Testament as the Sadducees, all right?

Sadducees is the Greek transliteration of the Zadokim, the

Sadducees, and so we know by the time of Jesus that the Zadokim had been so liberalized that they denied the resurrection, all right?

It always seems to be a thing that where God's word is established and there an institution comes into being for the upkeep and for keeping things moving on into posterity, the devil always sets up shop and starts to chip away at sound theology, and you'll note that he chips away at it in several different directions, and one of them is a liberalizing direction where they deny what the

Scriptures say. They'll say, oh, the Bible says that the children of Israel crossed the

Red Sea as in dry land. Well, we know that that doesn't really happen, and so that's really probably more a tale like Aesop's fables where the tortoise and the hare had a race, and of course the tortoise won because slow and steady wins the race.

So the children of Israel really didn't cross the Red Sea. That's symbolic of something that's spiritual, and they always try to find a way to get around what the biblical text says, always denying, always showing cynicism, always showing skepticism, so much so that the

Sadducees at the time of Christ denied the resurrection, and they got a rebuke from Jesus.

They got a rebuke straight up from Jesus, and Jesus said, God said that he's the God of Isaac, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God's the living God of the God of the living, not the dead, and he said that to basically poke the

Zadokim in the eye regarding their denial of the resurrection, right?

So although this is a lot of minutiae information, it's information that you pay attention to the details because they matter.

The month known as Nisan is the same with January for it's in the Jewish calendar.

So Jacob, no, Nisan is technically around April, not January, so God's established his years to begin in the spring in the

Northern Hemisphere. Now in Malawi, you guys, February would be a fall, because you guys are below the equator, but the idea then is that that first of the year, it would be similar to January in the sense that that's the beginning of the new year, and it's in the month of Nisan, which is in April.

All right, continuing on here. All right, so he was ascribed, this is

Ezra, skilled in the law of Moses that Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked.

For the hand of Yahweh his God was on him. And there went up also to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king some of the people of Israel and some of the priests and the

Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king, for on the first day of the first month he began to go from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem.

For the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Great text right here. What does Paul say about pastors? Pastors should guard their lives, their doctrine and their lives, right?

Not only what you believe but what you do. And Ezra kind of exemplifies that. He wants to teach, he's dedicated himself to a study of the

Bible. And not only to study it and to teach it but also to do it.

And so he's guarding his doctrine and life carefully like modern day pastors should.

This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of Yahweh and his statutes for Israel.

Artaxerxes, king of kings to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God, the

God of heaven, peace. And now I make a decree that any one of the people of Israel the priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you.

For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your

God which is in your hand. And also to carry the silver and the gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the

God of Israel whose dwelling is in Jerusalem with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia and with the freewill offerings of the people the priests vowed willingly for the house of their

God that is in Jerusalem. With this money then you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, lambs and their grain offerings and their drink offerings and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your

God that is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold you may do according to the will of your

God. The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God you shall deliver before the

God of Jerusalem. And whatever else is required for the house of your

God which it falls to you to provide you may provide it out of the king's treasury. And I, Artaxerxes the king make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the river whatever

Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven requires of you let it be done with all diligence.

And up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cores of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil and salt without prescribing how much.

Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.

Man, what is it? The Jews go into exile in Babylon and then when they come out the kings of Babylon are so heavily influenced by the one true

God that they fear him and respect him accordingly. It makes you wonder did Artaxerxes himself have faith in the one true

God. We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom or toll on any of the priests.

Ah, look at that, they had tax -free status, okay? Have you ever wondered why religious institutions have tax -free status?

That practice goes way back, thousands of years. The Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants and other servants of this house of God.

And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province beyond the river.

All such as know the laws of your God and those who do not know them you shall teach.

Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king let judgment be strictly executed on him whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.

You'll note separation of church and state is not present here and that even the following of God's commandments are backed up by the king of Persia, fascinating.

Now blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to beautify the house of Yahweh that is in Jerusalem and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty officers

I took courage for the hand of Yahweh my God was on me and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Right on. So far so good. Now notice what the title of this next section of Ezra's titled,

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra. I'm not reading all of this. For your own edification you can go back and work the verbal gymnastics if you like but you'll note again this is a section of this text which basically screams this is history.

This is not some kind of a legendary tale, okay?

So he just talks about basically here the main heads of the different clans of Judah at this time and how many men were in each of those clans.

Ezra 8 15, I gathered all of them to the river that runs to Ahabba and there we camped for three days as I reviewed the people and the priests

I found there none of the sons of Levi and then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, El Nathan, Jareb, El Nathan, Nathan, Zachariah and Meshulam, by the way

Zachariah is listed here which is one of the reasons why a lot of biblical scholars think that Zachariah the prophet was also a priest, okay?

Leading men and for Joyarib and El Nathan who were men of insight and sent them to Edo.

Edo is the father of Haggai, right? The leading man at the place

Cassaphia telling them what to say to Edo and his brothers and the temple servants at the place

Cassaphia namely to send us ministers for the house of our God and by the good hand of our

God on us they brought us a man of discretion of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel named

Sherabiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18 of them. Also Hashabiah and with him

Jeshahiah and of the sons of Merari and his kinsmen and their sons 20 and besides 220 of the temple servants whom

David and his officials had set apart to attend to the Levites, these all mentioned by name.

And then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our

God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children and all of our goods for I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way since we had told the king the hand of our

God is for good on all who seek him and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.

So we fasted and implored our God for this and he listened to our entreaty.

And then I set apart 12 of the leading priests, Sherabiah, Hashabiah and the 10 of their kinsmen with them and I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our

God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all of Israel there present had offered.

I weighed out in their hands 650 talents of silver and silver vessels were 200 talents and 100 talents of gold.

Again, a talent is roughly 100 pounds. So this is a large quantity of precious metals here.

And 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth 1 ,000 derricks and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold and I said to them, you are holy to Yahweh and the vessels are holy and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the

God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the

Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem within the chamber of the house of Yahweh.

So the priests and the Levites took over. They weighed the silver, the gold and the vessels and bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our

God. Then we departed from the river Ahava. Note the we here, we departed, okay.

Ezra wrote this, okay. We departed from the river

Ahava on the 12th day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our

God was on us. He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from the ambushes by the way. It wasn't safe to travel back then.

The best way I can put it is there are certain roads in Mexico where Americans dare not drive because if they drive there, they're gonna be pulled over and killed and have all their stuff taken by cartel members and stuff like this.

I mean, there's whole sections in the northern part of Mexico, south of Texas where it says travel here at your own risk, you know, you're on your own.

There's no help coming, you know. And so the same back in the day, it's just highwaymen were the thing.

So we came to Jerusalem and there we remained for three days. On the fourth day within the house of our God, the silver, the gold, the vessels were weighed in the hands of Merimat, the priest, the son of Uriah.

And with him was Eliezer, the son of Phinehas. And with him were the Levites, Jezebab, the son of Jeshua, and Noah -Diah, the son of Ben -Nui.

And the whole was counted and weighed and the weight of everything was recorded.

So they were traveling with all that precious, those precious metals, all that treasure, if you would. And so they had to,

God had to protect them on the way. You know, this is the kind of treasure that, you know, if they had put this on a train back in the day in the

Wild West, Jesse James would have robbed that train. You know, he would have found a way to get this.

So at that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, they offered burnt offerings to the

God of Israel, 12 bulls for all of Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering, 12 male goats.

All this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps.

Satraps are kind of like local governors or magistrates. And to the governors of the provinces beyond the river and they aided the people and the house of God.

We are burning through Ezra here. Now, here we go. Ezra prays about intermarriage.

This is one where we're gonna pay attention to this one because like I said last week, the problem is not marrying somebody of a different race.

The problem is marrying somebody of a different religion, of a different race.

So you'll note that in the time that this is written, Judaism is legitimately a religion only practiced by people of a particular ethnicity, those who are descendants of Abraham.

And so you'll note that the nation and the ethnicity, they are intertwined.

And the people of the other nations, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the

Hivites, the Jebusites, the Assyrians, and so forth, they all worship different deities.

And so the problem here is not that there's a blanket prohibition against intermarrying people from different ethnicities.

So for instance, there's a family that we serve in Japan, a fellow by the name of Casey.

Casey grew up in the United States. He grew up in Texas. And he studied

Japanese when he was in high school, went to Japan on a mission, fell in love with a Japanese girl, married her, and now he lives in Japan and he joins us from Japan.

And you'll note that I do not rebuke Casey and say, you can't be marrying a Japanese girl because interracial marriage is forbidden by Scripture.

It's not, okay? All of us are created in the image of God. And it says in Scripture that a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.

And so there is no sin in marrying somebody of a different ethnicity.

As a Christian, you do not want to marry somebody who is not a Christian. That is going to lead to all kinds of disaster for sure.

Now, if you are already married and you become a Christian and your spouse does not bend the knee to Christ, if your spouse continues with you, then you stay married.

If your spouse decides to leave you and says, I don't want to have anything to do with you, Christian, then you're no longer under the covenant of marriage.

They've abandoned the marriage. And this is how Scripture talks. But here we've got a problem, and that is that people under the

Mosaic covenant who are strictly forbidden to marry women of other races who are practicing paganism, they've done that.

And here's the other issue here. How, according to the Mosaic covenant, is land transferred from generation to generation?

It's transferred via the firstborn, male, right?

So if you marry a hot pagan chick who worships Baal and she bears you a firstborn son, he's going to have legal claim to the inheritance that's supposed to stay within people who are ethnically and religiously

Jewish. So what happens is that interracial marriage at this point with people who are unbelievers literally throws the posterity, the future of Israel into question.

The practice itself would eventually lead to the destruction of that particular ethnicity and nation, and it's through the

Jews that the Messiah has to come. So you'll note that God in setting up these rules is also doing so for the protection of this particular ethnicity because from the

Jews comes the Messiah. So there's a lot to kind of consider in this regard, but the one thing we can say definitively is that if you ever run into a white supremacist,

I've unfortunately done this, and they tell you, well, Ezra 9 says you can't intermarry, you sit there and go, you don't know your

Bible because the things that Ezra is invoking, the cross references are in the

Mosaic covenant, right? So after these things had been done, the officials approached me, notice

Ezra's talking here, and said, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples,

I wanna see this, yeah, okay, from the peoples of the lands with their abominations.

Huh. What is an abomination? An idol, all right?

So the initial complaint is, hey, they haven't separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations.

They're idols, so the context, this is telling us what's going on here. From the Canaanites, the Hittites, the

Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Uptites and the Balletites, I always get an honorable mention from me, right?

The Egyptians and the Amorites, for they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves.

Again, context, with their abominations, they've taken wives who are practicing pagan idolaters, right, they've taken daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands and in this faithlessness, the hand of the officials and the chief men has been foremost.

Who's the biggest people implicated here? The highest officials in the government, right?

So the governors themselves, the highest magistrates and the mayors and city officials, they're the worst, they were the worst offenders of them all, right?

And as soon as I heard this, Ezra is writing in first person, I tore my garment and my cloak, pulled my hair from my head and beard, and I sat appalled.

Now you only usually do this when the Dodgers don't win, but that's a different story. All those who trembled at the words of the

God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.

And he should be appalled because just do the math. We just got back from exile and the reason why we were sent to exile for 70 years is because of idolatry and now you guys coming back, you're marrying all the hot pagan chicks and they're worshiping these false deities and it's just a matter of time, we're gonna be kicked out of the land altogether, right?

What are you guys thinking? But she's so beautiful. Who cares, okay?

Right? And at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn,

I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God saying, here's his prayer.

Oh my God, I am ashamed and I blush to lift my face to you my

God. For our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

Note what he's doing here, our iniquities. He recognizes that although he is not guilty of these sins personally, still because these sins have run rampant through the people, he's guilty along with them, right?

Have risen higher than our heads, our guilt, our guilt, he didn't say their guilt, our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

From the days of our fathers to this day, we have been in great guilt and for our iniquities, our kings, our priests have been given into the hands of the kings of the land to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, to utter shame as it is today.

But now for a brief moment, favor has been shown by Yahweh our God to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within this holy place that our

God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery for we are slaves.

Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our

God to repair its ruins and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

And now, oh our God, what shall we say after this?

For we have forsaken your commandments which you commanded by your servants the prophets saying the land that you are entering to take possession of it is a land impure with impurity of the peoples of the lands and their abominations, there it is again, right?

What's he quoting from here? He's quoting from the Torah. Ezra knows his Bible and you'll note that he's quoting a section of scripture that forbids the intermarriage of people who worship these abominations.

When their abominations that have filled it from the end to end with their uncleanness, therefore do not give your daughters to their sons neither take their daughters for your sons and never seek their peace or prosperity that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, leave it and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.

And there's the other part of it. You marry somebody who's a pagan, your firstborn son, probably gonna be a pagan, is now the one who inherits the land.

Everything is at stake here. And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you our

God have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations?

There it is again. This isn't a blanket prohibition against intermarriage. It's a prohibition against marrying people who practice pagan abominations.

Would you not be angry with us until, whoa, hang on a second here, I got clicky. Let me try that.

Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape?

Oh, Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped as it is today.

Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.

Pretty good prayer, right? Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.

And Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra, we have broken faith with our

God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children according to the counsel of my

Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done according to the law.

Arise, for it is your task and we are with you. Be strong to do it. Then Ezra arose, made the leading priests and Levites and all of Israel take an oath that they would do as has been said.

So they took the oath. So in the same way that Abraham put away

Hagar, you know, put her away, send her away, her and Ishmael. This is a terrible thing if you think about it, all right?

This is a ripping apart of families. But it's being done in order to do the right thing because the wrong thing had been done.

So then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber Jehoanan, the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night neither eating bread nor drinking water for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.

And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem and that if anyone did not come within three days by order of the officials and the elders of all his property should be forfeited.

And he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles. You guys need to show up here within three days.

Otherwise, you ain't a part of us and we're taking your property. That's a pretty severe penalty.

Excommunicated on the spot completely. So then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days.

It was the ninth month on the 20th day of the month and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.

And Ezra the priest stood up. Note here, this is a miserable thing to have to do.

And the great pain along with it. And it's done in the rain. I mean, Hollywood couldn't have cooked up a better scene to fit the sadness of this whole thing.

And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, you've broken faith. You've married foreign women.

And so increased the guilt of Israel. And now then make confession to Yahweh, the

God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.

And then all the assembly answered with a loud voice. It is so. We must do as you have said.

But the people are many and it is a time of heavy rain. We cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two.

For we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all the cities who have taken foreign wives come and at appointed times with them and the elders and judges of every city until the fierce wrath of our

God over this matter is turned away from us. Only Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah, the son of Tikva, opposed this.

And Mashulam and Shabbathai, the Levites, supported them. Then the returned exiles did so.

Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name.

On the first day of the 10th month, they sat down to examine the matter. And by the first day of the first month, they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women. And it names them,

Maasaiah, Eliezer, Jarib, Kadaliah, some of the sons of Jeshua, the sons of Jehoshadak and his brothers.

They pledged themselves to put away their wives in their guilt offering, was a ram of the flock for their guilt.

Of the sons of Emer, Hanani, Zebediah, and of the sons of Harim, Maasaiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, Uzziah, of the sons of Paschur, Elie, Oni, Maasaiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jehoshabad, and Elish.

I'm not gonna read the rest of the names, but all the guilty, their names are listed here. That's a lot of guys marrying a lot of foreign chicks.

All right. I don't know. Product of the 80s, right?

All right. Yeah, you're California. Yeah, I was in California for a week and look what happened to me.

Oh my, I was, in fact, it took me no time to learn how to drive on the freeways again. All those who had married foreign women and some of the women had even born children.

Oh man, these chicks had laid eggs. Oh, good for you.

We are now at the end of our class because we'll pick up Ezra chapter 10 next week. All right.